To help reduce poverty and vulnerability, we need more timely information on household welfare. Countries derive official measures of poverty from household surveys, which are only conducted every few years due to financial and administrative costs, with even greater lags in low-income and fragile countries.
However, by combining traditional surveys with different modelling approaches and data sources, countries can develop monitoring systems that provide up-to-date estimates on household welfare. Investing in this capacity to monitor welfare in “real time” is essential to inform policy action in the wake of shocks and changing circumstances.
In this talk, Professor Blumenstock will share findings from his latest research on the use of new data and technology for monitoring welfare and reflect on the challenges and opportunities going forward.
